Afriend recently gave me an interesting—and much-appreciated—gift: a prosperity salad kit. You can find them in Chinese supermarkets around new year, but I had to admit I had no idea what it was at first.
Here’s one you can buy online (from Pasar Mart UK) >
It’s a pack of dried and pickled ingredients that you add to fresh fish and salad to make a dish called yusheng. I learnt that the collective tossing of this salad by guests at the dining table is a Chinese New Year ritual in Singapore and Malaysia. It celebrates abundance, prosperity, and other good things. Like most Chinese words or combinations of characters ‘yusheng’ has a variety of meanings, including ‘raw fish’ and ‘abundant life’. The communal tossing—lo hei—is an essential part of the celebration. The higher the guests toss, the greater the wished for wealth and good fortune. It’s messy and huge fun.
So, with Chinese New Year falling on 17 February, I decided to invite a few fun friends to lunch. This was the result:
What was gratifying was that it not only led to a jolly lunch, but the dish was delicious. I like to think that the secret was the special Tanamerah dressing!
The essential ingredients are:
- Fish. Traditionally raw or smoked. For our lunch I used gravad lax, following the recipe I posted a while back. (OMG! I’ve just seen it was February 2012. 14 years ago!! How is that possible‽) It’s still fabulous but in case you want to keep things simple the below recipe uses smoked salmon.
- Shredded vegetables. The longer the strands, the longer the life you will earn tossing them.
- Fruit and pickles. For sweetness and good luck in the year ahead.
- Crunchy toppings. Crushed peanuts, roasted sesame seeds. Strips of fried spring roll wrappers are also good.
- Dressing. Traditionally made with plum sauce. But you’ll love mine!
Here’s my recipe for a homemade version, including the pickles, the toppings, and the dressing that would be included if you bought the kit. Yes, it is a salad, but none of my guests was complaining about eating it in the middle of February!
A note about pomelo. Its name is Citrus maxima for a reason: it is the largest citrus fruit. It comes from Southeast Asia—not an area normally associated with citrus fruit. And it is delicious! Sweeter, meatier, less bitter than grapefruit. And less messy to divide into segments, since it is a little less juicy. If you haven’t yet discovered it, this is a good opportunity because it works perfectly in prosperity salad. You can find it in larger supermarkets. Thsy look like huge greeny-yellow grapefuit. It has tough peel which is most easily removed by cutting the top off then making about eight vertical slices down the fruit. Make sure to remove the thick membrane around the flesh—this is where the pomelo’s bitterness lies.
photo: Gaurav, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Ingredients
Quantities are for four people. If there are only two of you put half the prepared ingredients in the fridge and toss it up another day!
Everything should be available in larger supermarkets. If you have to, you can use the substitutes listed.
-
- Carrots | 2
- Green cabbage | 3 leaves
- Small cucumbers | 3
- Mint | half a packet
- Pomelo (or grapefuit) | 3 segments
- Pickles
- Sweet peppadrops | 1 tbsp
- Pearl silverskin onions | 1 tbsp
- Cornichons | 6
- Sushi ginger | 1 tbsp
Plus not included in picture:
-
- Smoked salmon | 150 g
- Roasted peanuts | 20 g
- Roasted sesame seeds (or unroasted) | 1/2 tbsp
Dressing:
-
- Fish sauce | 1/2 cup (125 ml)
- Water | 1/2 cup (125 ml)
- Rice vinegar (or other white vinegar) | 1/2 cup (125 ml)
- Lime juice | 1/2 cup (125 ml)—about 2 limes
- Palm sugar (or brown sugar) | 100 g
- Red chillies | 1 or 2 (optional to taste)
- Garlic | 2 cloves
Preparation
- Carrots
- Green cabbage
- Small cucumbers
- Mint
- Pomelo
- Cornichons
- Smoked salmon
- Roasted peanuts
- Palm sugar
- Red chillies
- Garlic
Grate lengthwise, into long thin strips
Shred thinly
Seed and slice thinly
Remove stalks
Peel, remove three segments, clean off pith, break into mouthful size chunks
Halve lengthwise
Cut into mouthful size chunks
Crush roughly
Shave
Cut finely into rings
Grate
Cooking
Dressing
- Gently heat palm sugar, water, and rice vinegar in a small pan until sugar has dissolved. Leave to cool.
- Add fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, and chillies if used. Adjust seasoning to taste.
Serving
- Arrange all the ingredients prettily on a platter large enough to allow for tossing without too much spoilage.
- Drizzle over the dressing at the table.
- Scatter over the peanuts and sesame seeds.
- Get your guests tossing immediately!
